Endocrine Abstracts

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) comprise the largest superfamily within the human proteome, and are frequent targets for hormones and drugs. Important insights about the roles of GPCRs in endocrinology have been provided by studies of clinical disorders, as illustrated by those of calcium regulation, which involves the parathyroids, first discovered in an Indian Rhinoceros by Sir Richard Owen in 1849. The parathyroids and kidneys express the extracellular calcium-sensing r...

Rajesh Thakker is the May Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, UK. He received his medical degree from the University of Cambridge in 1980, and from 1981 to 1988 he undertook postgraduate clinical and research training at The Middlesex Hospital, The Hammersmith (Royal Postgraduate Medical School, RPMS), Hospital, and Northwick Park (MRC Clinical Research Centre) Hospital (London). In 1988, he was appoint...